At long last! Johnson wins 200th for Hendrick

After months of frustration, Jimmie Johnson gave Rick Hendrick his 200th Sprint Cup Series victory, running away from the rest of the field on a green-white-checkered restart that took the Bojangles' Southern 500 one lap past its scheduled distance.

On Saturday night at Darlington Raceway, Johnson ended his own winless streak of 16 races, a drought of relative epic proportions for the five-time champion. The victory was Johnson's 56th, breaking a tie with Rusty Wallace for eighth on the all-time list.

Johnson won the 199th race for Hendrick, outdueling Kasey Kahne in last year's Oct. 9 Chase race at Kansas Speedway. In subsequent months, the organization has been tantalizingly close to No. 200 -- notably at Martinsville, where Hendrick drivers were running 1-2-3 before a late caution.

On Saturday night, in winning for the third time at the Lady in Black, Johnson finally put the question of the 200th win to rest. After pitting for the final time on Lap 299 of 368, however, Johnson had to save fuel to make it to the checkered flag.

All of Johnson's 56 victories have come under the Hendrick banner.

"You've got to love that man," Johnson said of his car owner during a celebration in Victory Lane. "He said, 'Two hundred is great, but let's go get 250.' So that tells you where his head is. I love it. Oh, man, what a day!"

In the closing laps, with the outcome in the balance, Hendrick left the pit box and paced up and down pit road.

"I had to get away," Hendrick said. "They said that we were going to make it [on fuel], but I don't believe them, you know? Everything has happened backward for us. We've run so good this year and then had such bad luck ...

"I'm kind of numb, but I'm glad it's over. I think we're going to win a few more now."

Matt Kenseth finished sixth and trimmed the series lead of Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle, who came home 12th, to two points.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. remained third in the standings, 14 points back, after a 17th-place result. Hamlin is fourth in points, 17 behind Biffle.

Stewart, himself a car owner, had the highest praise for Hendrick, who picked up his first victory on a shoestring budget when Geoff Bodine won the April 29, 1984 event at Martinsville.

"I think it's phenomenal, especially with the competition over here getting tougher and tougher," said Stewart, who lost second position to Hamlin when his car temporarily lost fuel pressure coming to the final restart. "It's getting harder and harder to win these races.

"Especially for it to happen in the Southern 500 -- it's such a historic race. It's a pretty cool milestone."

"You've got to love that man. He said, 'Two hundred is great, but let's go get 250.' So that tells you where his head is. I love it."

--JIMMIE JOHNSON

The co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, which gets engines, chassis and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports, chased Johnson in the late stages of the race before the final caution, but Johnson's Chevrolet was simply too strong.

"I was trying to postpone [No. 200] for another week by trying to get to Jimmie, but I just couldn't do it," the reigning Cup champion said. "The closer I got to him, the tighter I got. That was one of the best runs we'd had, but still I wasn't strong enough.

"He had plenty of car left. He was just riding, trying to save fuel. They won it in dominating fashion. To win a 200th race, you don't want to back into it. They dominated and took it the way they should."

Stewart also fields the No. 10 car for Danica Patrick, who started 38th and finished 31st, six laps down in her Darlington Cup debut. The night before, Patrick ran 12th in her first Nationwide Series race at the 1.366-mile track.

"She ran good lap times [Saturday night]," Stewart said. "There was a period in the race when she set her balances at her best -- they said she was within a tenth [of a second] of the leaders at that point in the race. So I'm really, really proud of her."

Johnson, who led a race-high 134 laps, held an advantage of 0.8 seconds and was saving fuel, when Kurt Busch hit the wall on Lap 361. Ryan Newman checked up behind Busch, only to be turned into the wall by Aric Almirola. Caution flew for the eighth time to set up the two-lap sprint to the finish.

After the race, Newman parked his Chevy near Busch's and exchanged words with the 2004 champion. Several of Newman's crew members tried to confront their counterparts on Busch's team, and the driver himself, but NASCAR officials restrained them.

The hard feelings stemmed from the aftermath of the wreck, when Busch brought his car to pit road for repairs.

"The No. 39 [Newman's] guys were mad because Kurt burned out of our pit stall, and I don't know if they were still there working or whatnot," said Nick Harrison, Busch's crew chief. "Their gas man came down there raising hell and wanting to fight Kurt."

"It's crazy, pit road," said Tony Gibson, Newman's crew chief. "Things happen, and everybody's emotions run high. It's a hot night. Everybody settles down and talks about it. We're all good. We can't control drivers. Nothing against the team -- none of those guys. They didn't do anything wrong."

The race was an anomaly. In a track known for wild action, this year's Southern 500 ran caution-free for the first 172 laps, through three cycles of green-flag pit stops.

Notes-n-Nuggets

• Jimmie Johnson grabbed his 56th Cup win, good for eighth all-time, in his 374th start.

• The last win for Jimmie Johnson prior to Bojangles' Southern 500 was in October at Kansas (16 starts between).

• Jimmie Johnson is the eighth different winner in 11 Cup races in 2012.

• The victory gives Jimmie Johnson at least one win in all 11 career Cup seasons.

• It's Jimmie Johnson's third Darlington win in his 14th start, and first win since Fall 2004.

• Jimmie Johnson led 134 laps, the most of all drivers -- including the last 44.

• Darlington is the 11th track that Jimmie Johnson has at least three wins on.

• It was Hendrick Motorsports' 200th Cup win, joining Petty Enterprises (268 wins) as the second team to reach 200 Cup wins.

• Darlington marks Hendrick's first win of 2012, as last win was also Jimmie Johnson's last victory at Kansas in October.

• The victory was Handrick's 14th Darlington win -- the most of all teams.

• Denny Hamlin's (second) average finish in seven races at Darlington is 5.87, which is best of all drivers with more than two starts.

• Tony Stewart (third) matched his best Darlington finish in his 20th start. This was only his fourth top-five finish of the season.

• Kyle Busch (fourth) now has four top-five finishes in 2012, including the last three races.

• Martin Truex Jr (fifth) notched his fourth top-five finish of 2012.

• Greg Biffle (12th) had only his fourth finish outside the top-10 in 2012, but is still leading the points by two over Matt Kenseth.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr (17th) posted his worst finish of the 2012 season, and first finish outside the top-15.

• Danica Patrick (31st) was the third woman to compete in a Cup race at Darlington.

• Jeff Gordon (35th) floundered to his seventh finish outside the top-20 this season, including all of the last four races.

• Race finished with a Green-White-Checkered -- the fourth time that's happened in 2012.

By the time NASCAR called the first caution, for debris in Turn 2, Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet had emerged as the dominant car, having opened a lead of more than five seconds in front of Kyle Busch, who was running second when the yellow flag was finally displayed.

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